NUMERIAN, as Caesar
AD 282-283
AE Antoninianus. 4.04g, 23.5mm
MINTED: Rome mint, AD 283
REF: RIC 363OBVERSE: M AVR NVMERIANVS C, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
REVERSE: PRINCIPI I-VVENTVT, Numerian standing left, holding globe and sceptre; Kaς in exergue.
Notes:
Well-struck on a remarkably broad flan. Slightly patchy surfaces, but with some original surface silvering still intact. A nice, sharp portrait.
Historical Notes:
Contemporary historians portray Numerian, the youngest son of Emperor Carus, as a man more suited to be a poet than a soldier. He accompanied his father on his campaign against the Persians in 283, and when Carus was killed (apparently by a bolt of lightning), Numerian's first act as the newly-proclaimed emperor was to turn his army back towards Europe. He endeavoured to rendezvous with his elder brother Carinus at Cyzicus, but died suddenly en route to his destination, his decomposing corpse discovered inside his travelling litter some days after his death. Aper, the Praetorian Prefect and Numerian's father-in-law, was accused of killing the emperor and summarily executed by the Commander of the Imperial Bodyguard, Diocles. The army then proclaimed Diocles, or Diocletian as he is better known, the new emperor.
